EP3306407B1 - Procédé permettant de convertir une imprimante à cartouches de toner en une imprimante à toner blanc, clair, métallique, fluorescent ou léger - Google Patents

Procédé permettant de convertir une imprimante à cartouches de toner en une imprimante à toner blanc, clair, métallique, fluorescent ou léger Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3306407B1
EP3306407B1 EP17195155.1A EP17195155A EP3306407B1 EP 3306407 B1 EP3306407 B1 EP 3306407B1 EP 17195155 A EP17195155 A EP 17195155A EP 3306407 B1 EP3306407 B1 EP 3306407B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
toner
printer
cartridge
printing
cartridges
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Active
Application number
EP17195155.1A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP3306407A3 (fr
EP3306407A2 (fr
Inventor
Joseph Dovi
Michael Raymond Josiah
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
UI Technologies Inc
Original Assignee
UI Technologies Inc
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Publication date
Priority claimed from US15/286,943 external-priority patent/US9835982B2/en
Application filed by UI Technologies Inc filed Critical UI Technologies Inc
Publication of EP3306407A2 publication Critical patent/EP3306407A2/fr
Publication of EP3306407A3 publication Critical patent/EP3306407A3/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP3306407B1 publication Critical patent/EP3306407B1/fr
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
    • G03G15/01—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for producing multicoloured copies
    • G03G15/0105—Details of unit
    • G03G15/0126—Details of unit using a solid developer
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
    • G03G15/06—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for developing
    • G03G15/08—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern for developing using a solid developer, e.g. powder developer
    • G03G15/0822—Arrangements for preparing, mixing, supplying or dispensing developer
    • G03G15/0863—Arrangements for preparing, mixing, supplying or dispensing developer provided with identifying means or means for storing process- or use parameters, e.g. an electronic memory
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
    • G03G15/55—Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display
    • G03G15/553—Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job
    • G03G15/556—Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job for toner consumption, e.g. pixel counting, toner coverage detection or toner density measurement
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
    • G03G15/65—Apparatus which relate to the handling of copy material
    • G03G15/6582—Special processing for irreversibly adding or changing the sheet copy material characteristics or its appearance, e.g. stamping, annotation printing, punching
    • G03G15/6585—Special processing for irreversibly adding or changing the sheet copy material characteristics or its appearance, e.g. stamping, annotation printing, punching by using non-standard toners, e.g. transparent toner, gloss adding devices

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to printer cartridge replacement. More specifically, this disclosure relates to methods and systems of converting a standard toner cartridge printer to a printer that prints with white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner.
  • Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and Black (K) (or CMYK) laser or Light Emitting Diode (LED) type printers come standard with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black toner and/or drum cartridges.
  • traditional black toner printers and CMYK toner printers are generally unable to print in white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner as the foreground or as the background, as these printers lack the appropriate toner and/or drum cartridges and the appropriate raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge re-mapping.
  • RIP raster image processor
  • Printing in white toner is feasible through the use of white toner printers and would generally allow a user to print on dark or clear media, but white media printers are dedicated to CMYW only where white is always a top color. This system does not allow printing on clear or dark media and may require the user to buy an entirely new printer. Printers that print both in white and color are CMYKW printers with a minimum of five toner printing cartridges and white is always the last cartridge which does not allow a layer of white to be put down first as a background color.
  • CMYK printers have only been able to approximate metallic tones by blending CMYK colors.
  • Metallic colors such as gold, copper, brass, bronze, platinum, chrome, silver, and metallic tones of other colors, such as magenta, yellow, and cyan, can be done not using traditional printers, including by offset printing, silkscreen printing, and hot foil stamping, etc.
  • Each of these has its own strengths, but none of them is really suited to the needs of on-demand printing. For example, in offset printing, each spot color requires its own plate, the production of which incurs cost.
  • silk screen printing and hot foil stamping also, plates and molds need to be made, requiring professional expertise and making the cost of each print that much more expensive, so that these technologies are not easy to apply unless a print run is of a certain size.
  • CMYK colors are designed and tailored for printing bright, vivid, and high chroma graphics on plain paper these colors, in general, are not lightfast. Generally, these colors do not provide a "true" photographic lightfastness especially in the lower portion of the tone scales. Thus, the challenge remains to further improve the image quality and lightfastness of prints without sacrificing performance and reliability.
  • US 9383684 B1 discloses a method of converting a toner cartridge printer into a white toner printer.
  • EP 3373076 A1 which represents prior art under Article 54(3) EPC, discloses a method of converting a toner cartridge printer into a white toner printer.
  • a standard toner cartridge printer is converted by replacing the color or black toner printing cartridge in the first toner printing cartridge position, which allows the printer to print white, metallic, or light as a background color prior to printing the other colors.
  • a standard toner cartridge printer is converted by replacing the color or black toner printing cartridge in the last toner printing cartridge position, which allows the printer to print white, metallic, or light as a foreground color.
  • the addition of the white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner may be accompanied by cartridge re-mapping using RIP software.
  • the RIP software allows a user to set how much white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner should be added to maximize the look of the finished print job.
  • the cartridge re-mapping is used to allow a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printing cartridge to be put in the "K" (black) slot (which may be the first slot in the printer) of a CYMK printer and the CYM cartridges are all in their original slots.
  • K black
  • a layer of white, metallic, or light may be put down, on top of which a full color layer may be printed, and may be used on clear and dark media.
  • the cyan cartridge is replaced by a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printing cartridge and the black cartridge is replaced with a cyan cartridge.
  • white, metallic, or light may be a foreground layer or be printed concurrently with the other colors.
  • the RIP software allows the printer to print the color, black, and white/metallic/light in a layered or pass format.
  • the printing cartridge integrated circuits may be swapped along with the toner printing cartridges, but the RIP software is configured to ensure that the correct colors print regardless of which slot the colors are placed.
  • the RIP software may allow or feature color rasterization, which enables the printer to use less toner by selectively removing pixels to use less toner. This feature gives a nicer feel and ads more durability to the finished product.
  • a CMYK toner printer may be converted to CMYW or M CMYW, wherein the M stands for Metallic, and wherein the printing cartridges may be placed in any order within the printer.
  • the RIP software may be used to map the final placement of each toner color in the CMYW or M CMYW, wherein W may be white, or metallic.
  • CMYW printer may be converted to any combination of metallic, light, or standard colors.
  • One example may be a method of converting a printer to print with white toner, comprising the steps: providing a toner printer.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges and may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner may be removed from the printing cartridge from the toner printer.
  • a white toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • the white toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • a raster image processor (RIP) software may be provided for printing cartridge remapping such that a first layer using only the white toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the white layer in one pass.
  • the printer may be a laser toner printer.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the installing of the white toner printing cartridge in the first position may allow the printer to print the first layer using only the white toner printing cartridge.
  • the provided white toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a white toner.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges.
  • the four printing cartridges may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be in a fourth position of the toner printer.
  • the cyan toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a white toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • the white toner printing cartridge may be installed into the fourth position of the toner printer.
  • Raster image processor (RIP) software may provide for printing cartridge remapping.
  • a first layer not using the white toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the first layer.
  • the second layer may print only using the white toner printing cartridge.
  • a layer using all four of the four toner printing cartridges may be printed.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the provided white toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a white toner
  • One example may be a method of converting a printer to print with metallic toner, comprising the step: providing a toner printer.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges and may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner may be removed from the printing cartridge from the toner printer.
  • a metallic toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • a raster image processor (RIP) software may be provided for printing cartridge remapping such that a first layer using only the metallic toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the metallic layer in one pass.
  • the printer may be a laser toner printer.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the installing of the metallic toner printing cartridge in the first position may allow the printer to print the first layer using only the metallic toner printing cartridge.
  • the provided metallic toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a metallic toner.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges.
  • the four printing cartridges may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be in a fourth position of the toner printer.
  • the cyan toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a metallic toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge may be installed into the fourth position of the toner printer.
  • Raster image processor (RIP) software may provide for printing cartridge remapping.
  • a first layer not using the metallic toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the first layer.
  • the second layer may print only using the metallic toner printing cartridge.
  • a layer using all four of the four toner printing cartridges may be printed.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the provided metallic toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a metallic toner
  • One example may be a method of converting a printer to print with light toner, comprising the step: providing a toner printer.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges and may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner may be removed from the printing cartridge from the toner printer.
  • a light toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • the light toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • a raster image processor (RIP) software may be provided for printing cartridge remapping such that a first layer using only the light toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the light layer in one pass.
  • the printer may be a laser toner printer.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the installing of the light toner printing cartridge in the first position may allow the printer to print the first layer using only the light toner printing cartridge.
  • the provided light toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a light toner.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges.
  • the four printing cartridges may comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in a first position of the toner printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be in a fourth position of the toner printer.
  • the cyan toner printing cartridge may be removed from the toner printer.
  • a light toner printing cartridge may be provided.
  • a cyan toner printing cartridge may be installed into the first position of the toner printer.
  • the light toner printing cartridge may be installed into the fourth position of the toner printer.
  • Raster image processor (RIP) software may provide for printing cartridge remapping.
  • a first layer not using the light toner printing cartridge may be printed, and then a second layer may be printed over the first layer.
  • the second layer may print only using the light toner printing cartridge.
  • a layer using all four of the four toner printing cartridges may be printed.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the provided light toner printing cartridge may comprise: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge may be created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a light toner
  • Another embodiment may be a method of converting a printer to print with metallic toner, comprising the steps: providing a toner printer.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges. One or more of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed from the toner printer, such that there may be empty toner printing cartridge position(s).
  • Metallic toner printing cartridge(s) may be provided.
  • Metallic toner printing cartridge(s) may be installed into empty toner printing cartridge(s).
  • Raster image processor (RIP) software may provide for printing cartridge remapping.
  • the CMYK printer may be a CMYW printer. All four of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed and replaced with four metallic toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • Another embodiment may be a method of converting a printer to print with light toner, comprising the steps: providing a toner printer.
  • the toner printer may have four printing cartridges. One or more of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed from the toner printer, such that there may be empty toner printing cartridge position(s).
  • Metallic toner printing cartridge(s) may be provided.
  • Metallic toner printing cartridge(s) may be installed into empty toner printing cartridge(s).
  • Raster image processor (RIP) software may provide for printing cartridge remapping.
  • the CMYK printer may be a CMYW printer. All four of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed and replaced with four metallic toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • Another embodiment of the method may be converting a CMYK printer to print with metallic toner, comprising the steps: providing a CMYK toner printer; wherein the toner printer has four printing cartridges; removing one or more of the four toner printing cartridges from the toner printer, such that there are one or more empty toner printing cartridge positions; providing one or more metallic toner printing cartridges; installing the one or more metallic toner printing cartridges into the one or more empty toner printing cartridges; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping.
  • the metallic toner may be selected from the group of metallic toners consisting of: gold, copper, brass, bronze, platinum, chrome, silver, metallic magenta, metallic yellow, and metallic cyan.
  • the CMYK printer may be a CMYW printer. All four of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed and replaced with four metallic toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • Another embodiment of the method may be a method of converting a CMYK printer to print with light toner, comprising the steps: providing a CMYK toner printer; wherein the toner printer has four printing cartridges; removing one or more of the four toner printing cartridges from the toner printer, such that there are one or more empty toner printing cartridge positions; providing one or more light toner printing cartridges; installing the one or more light toner printing cartridges into the one or more empty toner printing cartridges; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping.
  • the light toner may comprise light magenta or light cyan toner.
  • the CMYK printer may be a CMYW printer.
  • All four of the four toner printing cartridges may be removed and replaced with four light toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • Another example of the method may be a method of converting a printer to print with clear fluorescent toner, comprising the steps: providing a toner printer; wherein the toner printer has four printing cartridges; wherein the four printing cartridges comprise a black toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge; wherein the black toner printing cartridge is in a first position of the toner printer; removing the black toner printing cartridge from the toner printer; wherein the cyan toner printing cartridge is in a fourth position of the toner printer; removing the cyan toner printing cartridge from the toner printer; providing a clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge; installing the cyan toner printing cartridge into the first position of the toner printer; installing the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge into the fourth position of the toner printer; providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping; and wherein the clear fluorescent toner is only visible under an ultraviolet light.
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the method may further compise the steps: printing a first layer not using the clear toner printing cartridge and then printing a second layer over the first layer; wherein the second layer prints only using the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge.
  • the printer may be a LED toner printer.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate drums and four separate toner printing cartridges.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four separate toner printing cartridges and one single drum cartridge.
  • the four toner printing cartridges of the printer may comprise four combined toner and drum printing cartridges.
  • the providing of the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge comprises: disassembling the removed black toner printing cartridge; emptying and cleaning the removed black toner printing cartridge, such that an empty printing cartridge is created; and filling the empty printing cartridge with a clear fluorescent toner.
  • Another embodiment of the method may be a method of converting a printer to print with white toner comprising the steps: providing a color toner printer; wherein the color toner printer comprises a plurality of drum cartridges and a plurality of toner cartridges; wherein the plurality of toner cartridges comprises a cyan toner cartridge, a yellow toner cartridge, a magenta toner cartridge, and a black toner cartridge; wherein the plurality of drum cartridges comprises a cyan drum cartridge, a yellow drum cartridge, a magenta drum cartridge, and a black drum cartridge; removing the cyan toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, the cyan drum cartridge, and the magenta drum cartridge; disassembling the cyan drum cartridge and the magenta drum cartridge; emptying and cleaning the cyan toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, the cyan drum cartridge, and the magenta drum cartridge; priming the cyan drum cartridge and the magenta drum cartridge with a white toner; filling the cyan toner cartridge and the mag
  • the method may also comprise refurbishing at least one of the cyan toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, the cyan drum cartridge, and the magenta drum cartridge.
  • the method may also comprise disassembling at least one of the cyan toner cartridge and the magenta toner cartridge.
  • the method may also comprise adjusting one or more printer settings so that the printer prints using the white toner filled cartridges.
  • the one or more printer settings may be set to print 100% Cyan and 100% Magenta in order to print white areas.
  • Another embodiment of the method may be a method of converting a printer to print with white toner, comprising the steps: providing a color toner printer; wherein the color toner printer comprises a drum cartridge and a plurality of toner cartridges; wherein the plurality of toner cartridges comprises a cyan toner cartridge, a yellow toner cartridge, a magenta toner cartridge, and a black toner cartridge; removing the yellow toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, and the drum cartridge; disassembling the drum cartridge; emptying and cleaning the cyan toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, and the drum cartridge; priming the drum cartridge with a white toner; filling the cyan toner cartridge and the magenta toner cartridge with the white toner; and installing the white toner filled cartridges and the white toner primed drum into the printer.
  • the method may further comprise refurbishing at least one of the cyan toner cartridge, the magenta toner cartridge, and the drum cartridge.
  • the method may further comprise disassembling at least one of the cyan toner cartridge and the magenta toner cartridge.
  • the method may further comprise adjusting one or more printer settings so that the printer prints using the white toner filled cartridges.
  • the one or more printer settings may be set to print 100% Cyan and 100% Magenta in order to print white areas.
  • An example of the method may be a method of converting a printer to print with a non-standard toner, comprising the steps: providing a color toner printer; wherein the color toner printer comprises a plurality of drum cartridges and a plurality of toner cartridges; wherein the plurality of toner cartridges comprises a cyan toner cartridge, a yellow toner cartridge, a magenta toner cartridge, and a black toner cartridge; wherein the plurality of drum cartridges comprises a cyan drum cartridge, a yellow drum cartridge, a magenta drum cartridge, and a black drum cartridge; removing the black toner cartridge and the black drum cartridge; providing an empty replacement toner cartridge and an empty replacement drum cartridge; priming the empty replacement drum cartridge with a non-standard toner; filling the empty replacement toner cartridge with the non-standard toner; and installing the non-standard toner filled replacement toner cartridge and the non-standard toner primed drum cartridge into the printer.
  • the empty replacement toner cartridge and the empty replacement drum cartridges may be new.
  • the method may further comprise adjusting one or more printer settings so that the printer prints using the non-standard toner filled cartridge.
  • the one or more printer settings may be set to print at 100% K.
  • the non-standard toner may be selected from the group of non-standard toners consisting of: white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, and light toner.
  • Another example of the method may be a method of converting a printer to print with non-standard toner comprising the steps: providing a monochromatic printer; wherein the monochromatic printer has one or more printing cartridges; providing one or more empty replacement toner and drum cartridges; filling the one or more empty replacement toner and drum cartridges with a non-standard toner; and installing the one or more non-standard toner filled cartridges into the printer.
  • the non-standard toner may be selected from the non-standard toners consisting of: white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • Another embodiment may be a method of converting a CMYK printer to print with a non-standard toner, comprising the steps: providing a CMYK toner printer; wherein the CMYK toner printer has four toner printing cartridges, wherein three of the four toner printing cartridges are color printing cartridges comprising a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge; removing one or more of the color toner printing cartridges from the toner
  • the method may use new empty or recycled empty toner cartridges that have been pre-cleaned and filed with white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner.
  • the original cartridge(s) to be removed do not have to be cleaned and filed, they can immediately be replaced by a prefilled new or used cartridge.
  • the present specification discloses a system and method for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printer.
  • the method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printer preferably requires no special or dedicated printer drivers.
  • printing cartridge(s) generally refers to a toner cartridge, a laser toner cartridge, a LED toner cartridge, a drum cartridge, and/or a combined toner and drum cartridge.
  • toner generally refers to a powder, particulate, or dry ink that is used in laser printers, printers, and printing machines to form the printed text and images on the medium being printed. Generally, toner particles are melted by the heat of a fuser, and bound to the media.
  • the W preferably stands for white, but the W in some embodiments may also stand for metallic gold, metallic silver, light magenta, or light cyan.
  • the M stands for metallic, wherein the cyan, magenta, yellow, and/or white toner printing cartridges may be a metallic color.
  • metallic toner printing cartridges had never been substituted into a CMYK or CMYW printer.
  • the present method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printer may allow the conversion of: (1) a conversion of a CMYK machine that has separate toner and drum cartridges; (2) a conversion of a CMYK machine that has separate toner and drum cartridges; and (3) a conversion of a CMYK machine with a single drum and separate toner printing cartridges.
  • one or more of the original toner printing cartridges may be replaced with one or more metallic toner printing cartridges and the RIP software is utilized to map the toner printing cartridge positions to reflect the new metallic toner colors.
  • the below discussion of white toner printing cartridge conversion is essentially identical, with the exception that a metallic toner printing cartridge is substituted for a white toner printing cartridge.
  • one or more of the original toner printing cartridges may be replaced with one or more light toner printing cartridges and the RIP software is utilized to map the toner printing cartridge positions to reflect the new light toner colors.
  • the below discussion of white toner printing cartridge conversion is essentially identical, with the exception that a light toner printing cartridge is substituted for a white toner printing cartridge.
  • the conversion may comprise replacing one of the color cartridges with a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printing cartridge and replacing the accompanying color drum with a white, metallic, or light drum.
  • the conversion may comprise replacing one of the color cartridges with a white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printing cartridge and cleaning the accompanying drum portion of color toner and priming it with white, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner.
  • the conversion may comprise replacing one of the combined color cartridges with a combined white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printing cartridge.
  • FIG. 1 is a flow block diagram of an example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print with white toner in the background.
  • the conversion method 100 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 105 .
  • the CMYK printer is a LED printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the method 100 may further comprise removing the black printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer 110 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the clear or white toner.
  • the method 100 may further comprise: providing a white toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 115 ; installing the white toner and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the CMYK printer 120 ; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 130 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the white toner printing cartridge being in the first position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print a layer of white first, and then print in full color over the white layer 140 .
  • the white toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a white toner.
  • the installation may be of a used or new toner printing cartridge.
  • the RIP software utilizes printing cartridge mapping to enable the ability to move, change or swap printing cartridge locations in the printer. This allows white under printing or over printing in a single pass.
  • the RIP software may also add a customizable separate layer of white either on top or underneath the image depending on the cartridge configuration and printing needs. This fully customizable feature in the software (RIP) allows you to completely reconfigure the printer to get almost any desired effect.
  • the white toner background layer may be printed when the white toner is placed in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the white toner foreground layer may be printed when the white toner is place in the last printing cartridge position.
  • the RIP software may also be configured to allow the user to print in full color, CMY black, and white, such that the white prints with the other colors at the same time in a single layer.
  • the single layer is put down in a single pass.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the white toner and/or drum cartridge from the first slot in the CMYK printer and re-installing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge (if needed).
  • FIG. 2 is a flow block diagram of another example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print with white toner in the foreground.
  • the conversion method 200 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 205 .
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position and the cyan toner printing cartridge may be in the fourth printing cartridge position. With the white toner cartridge in the first or last slot the other color positions do not matter as long as they are mapped properly.
  • the white toner printing cartridge is preferably in the fourth position.
  • the method 200 may further comprise removing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer and removing the cyan toner printing cartridge from the printer 210 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate clear, white, or cyan toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 200 may further comprise: providing a white toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 215 ; installing the white toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the fourth slot or position in the printer 220 , which previously housed the cyan toner printing cartridge; installing the cyan toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the printer 222 , which previously housed the black printing cartridge; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 230 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the white toner printing cartridge being in the fourth position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print white concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print white as a separate layer after the other colors have printed 235 .
  • the white toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the black removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the black removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a white toner.
  • This method may also be used to create spot color white cartridges.
  • spot white may be printed around the first layer to produce white as a finished color.
  • Traditional printers without specialized software take all white colors as a "page is white” and ignore the request to print in white.
  • Traditional printers consider anything white as the color of the paper and do not print anything in the white areas.
  • the present printer RIP software recognizes this as a printable color and prints using pure white toner.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the white and cyan toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the fourth and first slots in the CMYK printer and re-installing the cyan and black toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridge into their original positions.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow block diagram of one example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print metallic in the background.
  • the conversion method 300 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 305 .
  • the CMYK printer is a LED printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the method 300 may further comprise removing the black printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer 310 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the metallic toner.
  • the method 300 may further comprise: providing a metallic toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 315 ; installing the metallic toner and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the CMYK printer 320 ; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 330 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the metallic toner printing cartridge being in the first position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print a layer of metallic first, and then print in full color over the metallic layer 340 .
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a metallic toner.
  • the metallic toner may be any metallic toner, including, but not limited to, gold, copper, brass, bronze, platinum, chrome, silver, and metallic tones of standard colors, such as metallic magenta, metallic yellow, and metallic cyan.
  • the installation may be of a used or new toner printing cartridge.
  • the RIP software utilizes printing cartridge mapping to enable the ability to move, change or swap printing cartridge locations in the printer. This allows metallic toner under printing or over printing in a single pass.
  • the RIP software may also add a customizable separate layer of metallic either on top or underneath the image depending on the cartridge configuration and printing needs. This fully customizable feature in the software (RIP) allows you to completely reconfigure the printer to get almost any desired effect.
  • the metallic toner background layer may be printed when the metallic toner is placed in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the metallic toner foreground layer may be printed when the metallic toner is place in the last printing cartridge position.
  • the metallic colors can be used as an under printer or over print for unique print effects, another more probable use would be as a spot color. For example, if the black toner is removed and replaced with silver toner, and the CMY cartridges are left as is, anything black would print as silver. Thus, if black was part of a created color to be printed, the resulting print job would have areas with a metallic sheen, rather than being darker. This effect can be done by any metallic color.
  • the RIP software may also be configured to allow the user to print in full color, CMY black, and metallic, such that the metallic prints with the other colors at the same time in a single layer.
  • the single layer is put down in a single pass.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the metallic toner and/or drum cartridge from the first slot in the CMYK printer and re-installing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge (if needed).
  • FIG. 4 is a flow block diagram of one example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print metallic in the foreground.
  • the conversion method 400 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 405 .
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position and the cyan toner printing cartridge may be in the fourth printing cartridge position. With the metallic in the first or last slot the other color positions do not matter as long as they are mapped properly.
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge is preferably in the fourth position.
  • the method 400 may further comprise removing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer and removing the cyan toner printing cartridge from the printer 410 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate metallic or cyan toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 400 may further comprise: providing a metallic toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 415 ; installing the metallic toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the fourth slot or position in the printer 420 , which previously housed the cyan toner printing cartridge; installing the cyan toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the printer 422 , which previously housed the black printing cartridge; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 430 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the metallic toner printing cartridge being in the fourth position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print metallic concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print metallic as a separate layer after the other colors have printed 435 .
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the black removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the black removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a metallic toner.
  • the metallic toner may be any metallic toner, including, but not limited to, gold, copper, brass, bronze, platinum, chrome, silver, and metallic tones of standard colors, such as metallic magenta, metallic yellow, and metallic cyan.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the metallic and cyan toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the fourth and first slots in the CMYK printer and re-installing the cyan and black toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridge into their original positions.
  • FIG. 5 is a flow block diagram of one example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print light in the background.
  • the conversion method 500 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 505 .
  • the CMYK printer is a LED printer.
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the method 500 may further comprise removing the black printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer 510 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the light toner.
  • the method 500 may further comprise: providing a light toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 515 ; installing the light toner and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the CMYK printer 520 ; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 530 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the light toner printing cartridge being in the first position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print a layer of light first, and then print in full color over the light layer 540 .
  • the light toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a light toner.
  • the light toner may be any light toner, including, but not limited to, light magenta or light cyan.
  • the installation may be of a used or new toner printing cartridge.
  • the RIP software utilizes printing cartridge mapping to enable the ability to move, change or swap printing cartridge locations in the printer. This allows light under printing or over printing in a single pass.
  • the RIP software may also add a customizable separate layer of light either on top or underneath the image depending on the cartridge configuration and printing needs. This fully customizable feature in the software (RIP) allows you to completely reconfigure the printer to get almost any desired effect.
  • the light toner background layer may be printed when the light toner is placed in the first printing cartridge position.
  • the light toner foreground layer may be printed when the light toner is place in the last printing cartridge position.
  • the RIP software may also be configured to allow the user to print in full color, CMY black, and light, such that the light prints with the other colors at the same time in a single layer.
  • the single layer is put down in a single pass.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the light toner and/or drum cartridge from the first slot in the CMYK printer and re-installing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge (if needed).
  • FIG. 6 is a flow block diagram of one example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print light in the foreground.
  • the conversion method 600 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 605 .
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position and the cyan toner printing cartridge may be in the fourth printing cartridge position. With the light in the first or last slot the other color positions do not matter as long as they are mapped properly.
  • the light toner printing cartridge is preferably in the fourth position.
  • the method 600 may further comprise removing the black toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer and removing the cyan toner printing cartridge from the printer 610 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate light or cyan toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 600 may further comprise: providing a light toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 615 ; installing the light toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the fourth slot or position in the printer 620 , which previously housed the cyan toner printing cartridge; installing the cyan toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the printer 622 , which previously housed the black printing cartridge; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 630 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the combination of the light toner printing cartridge being in the fourth position and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print light concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print light as a separate layer after the other colors have printed 635 .
  • the light toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the black removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the black removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a light toner.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the metallic and cyan toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the fourth and first slots in the CMYK printer and re-installing the cyan and black toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridge into their original positions.
  • the light toner may be any light toner, including, but not limited to, light magenta or light cyan.
  • FIG. 7 is a flow block diagram of another embodiment of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print with metallic toner.
  • the conversion method 700 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 705 .
  • the method 700 may comprise removing one or more printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the printer 710 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate metallic toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 700 may further comprise: providing one or more metallic toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges 715 ; installing the metallic printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 720 ; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 725 .
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge(s) and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print metallic concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print metallic as a separate layer.
  • the metallic toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling one or more removed printing cartridges, emptying and cleaning the removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a metallic toner.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the metallic toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge in the CMYK printer and re-installing the color toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the original positions.
  • CMYK printer such as a CMYW printer
  • CMYW printer may be altered to feature any combination of metallic or standard colors.
  • FIG. 8 is a flow block diagram of another embodiment of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print with light toner.
  • the conversion method 800 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 805 .
  • the method 800 may comprise removing one or more printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the printer 810 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate light toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 800 may further comprise: providing one or more light toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges 815 ; installing the light printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 820 ; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping 825 .
  • the light toner printing cartridge(s) and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print light concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print light as a separate layer.
  • the light toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling one or more removed printing cartridges, emptying and cleaning the removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a light toner.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the light toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge in the CMYK printer and re-installing the color toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the original positions.
  • CMYK printer such as a CMYW printer
  • CMYW printer may be altered to feature any combination of light or standard colors.
  • FIG. 9 is a flow block diagram of one example of the method of converting a printer to print with a non-standard toner, such as white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • the single printer cartridge conversion method 900 may comprise the steps: 905 , 910 , 915 , 920 , 925 , and 930 .
  • Step 905 may be providing a CMYK printer with separate toner and drum cartridges.
  • the method 900 may also be used with a CMYK printer, wherein each toner cartridge has a built in drum.
  • the next step 910 may be removing the black (or K) toner and/or drum cartridges from the printer.
  • the next step is to provide aftermarket empty cartridges (toner and/or drum), referred to as replacement toner and/or drum cartridges 915 .
  • These replacement cartridges may be new or recycled/repaired/refurbished. If the drum cartridges are separate, they may be primed with white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner powder 920 .
  • Step 925 may be filling the toner cartridge with white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • Step 930 may be installing the filled and primed replacement cartridges into the black (K) slot(s) in the printer.
  • the clear fluorescent toner that is only visible under ultraviolet (UV) light.
  • the double printing cartridges conversion may be desirable when more than one single pass of white may be needed to get optimum coverage. This is especially true for textured media. Additionally, for clear media, it may be desirable to be able to print in pure black using black toner in the K cartridge.
  • the double printing cartridges conversion may comprise the steps: providing a CMYK printer with separate toner and drum cartridges; removing the cyan and magenta drum and toner cartridges; emptying the cartridges of toner; disassembling and cleaning the cartridges (if used and necessary); refurbishing and repairing the cartridges; reassembling the cartridges (if separate); priming the drum cartridges with white toner powder; filling both toner cartridges with white toner; and installing the refilled and/or refurbished cartridges into the cyan and magenta slots of the printer.
  • White may be printed by setting the text or picture color to magenta or cyan. Since one of the purposes of the double cartridge conversion may be to provide double white toner coverage for textured or clear media, the user may select a color that uses equal parts magenta and cyan. 100% Magenta and 100% Cyan is an example of where anything printed will have a pass of white from the former magenta cartridge and a pass from the former cyan cartridge. The black and yellow cartridges may have been left intact, which generally means that the image may print in black, yellow, white, and double white.
  • the preferred color setting for the brightest whites may be as follows:
  • an extra step may be performed to block the yellow from printing, so that what remains may be to have a true black and double white printer without any possibility of any color (yellow) printing.
  • this will preferably effectively block the yellow from printing and will not generate a printer error.
  • Some yellow toner may need to be in the drum unit for lubrication, but this lubrication amount is preferably not enough to be used for or effect the printing.
  • the yellow laser slot of the drum unit may not be blocked as the printer will likely produce an error message and will not print. Because yellow color toner may be in the drum, care should be taken to avoid the yellow bleeding into the image.
  • the modified printer may also print in black when black printing is set to pure 100% K.
  • the printer can be brought back to standard CMYK printing by installing traditional magenta and cyan cartridge sets, and, if necessary, removing the LED blocking bar for the yellow on LED machines.
  • CMYK printing may be a CMYKB printer, wherein the B is black and K is a toner other than basic black.
  • FIG. 10 is a flow block diagram of another embodiment of the method of converting a printer to print with white toner and shows a double cartridge conversion of a CMYK printer.
  • the conversion method 1000 may be a double printing cartridges conversion and may comprise the steps: providing a CMYK printer with separate toner and drum cartridges 1005 ; removing the cyan and magenta drum and toner cartridges 1010 ; emptying the cartridges of toner 1015 ; disassembling and cleaning the empty and removed cartridges 1020 ; refurbishing and repairing the cartridges 1025 if used and if necessary; reassembling the cartridge 1030 ; priming the drum cartridges with white toner powder 1035 ; filling both toner cartridges with white toner 1040 ; and installing the refilled and/or refurbished cartridges into the cyan and magenta slots in the printer 1045 .
  • new empty cartridges which are substantially structurally similar or identical to the removed cartridges, may be provided, filled, and installed, similar to the method provided in FIG. 9 .
  • the method may be a double white printing conversion of a CMYK machine that has a single drum that operates with four or more separate toner cartridges.
  • the double printing cartridges conversion may comprise the steps: providing a CMYK printer with separate toner cartridges and a single drum cartridge; removing, disassembling, and cleaning the drum cartridge (note: care should be taken to thoroughly clean the cyan and magenta portion of the drum cartridge, because these portions will be switched to white toner); reassembling the drum unit; priming the magenta and cyan sections of the drum with white toner and prime the black and yellow sections with their respective colors (note: care should be taken not spill or mix toner as any amount will stain the white toner); removing and thoroughly cleaning the magenta and cyan toner cartridges; filling the magenta and cyan toner cartridges with white toner; and installing the toner cartridge back into the printer.
  • the drum unit may be preferably to keep this embodiment of modified printer as a true black and double white printing machine.
  • a blocking plate may be installed over the LED slot of the yellow drum section, so that no yellow can be printed.
  • Some yellow toner is preferably left in the toner cartridge for drum lubrication but this may not be enough to print in yellow.
  • White may be printed by setting the text or picture color to magenta or cyan. Because one of the purposes of the double cartridge conversion may be to provide double white toner coverage for textured or clear media, the user may select a color that uses equal parts magenta and cyan.
  • the yellow laser slot of the drum unit is generally not blocked as the printer may produce an error message and will be unable to print at all. In this case, great care must be taken to remove any yellow colors from the image before printing.
  • magenta and cyan toner cartridges are now white, a color equal in both magenta and cyan may be used to get two printing passes of white toner.
  • 100% Magenta and 100% Cyan is an example of where anything printed will have a pass of white from the former magenta cartridge and a pass from the former cyan cartridge.
  • the black and yellow cartridges may have been left intact, which generally means that the image may print in black, yellow, white, and double white.
  • the preferred color setting for the brightest whites may be as follows:
  • this embodiment of the printers is preferably left as dedicated black and double white machines, rather than converting the machine back to full color printing.
  • either the magenta or cyan may be converted, to create a single white printing machine.
  • FIG. 11 is a flow block diagram of another embodiment of the method of converting a printer to print with white toner.
  • this embodiment of the method 1100 may be a double white printing conversion of a CMYK printer that has a single drum that operates with four or more separate toner cartridges and may comprise the steps: providing a CMYK printer with separate toner cartridges and a single drum cartridge 1105; removing the drum cartridge 1110; disassembling and/or cleaning the drum cartridge 1115 ; reassembling the drum cartridge 1120 ; priming the magenta and cyan sections of the drum with white toner and priming the black and cyan sections with their respective colors 1125 ; removing the magenta and cyan toner cartridges 1130 ; thoroughly cleaning the cyan and magenta cartridges 1135 ; filling the magenta and cyan toner cartridges with white toner 1140 ; and installing the toner cartridge back into the printer 1145 .
  • new empty toner and drum cartridges which are substantially structurally similar or identical to the removed cartridges, may be provided, filled, and installed, similar to the method provided in FIG. 9 .
  • a black only, or otherwise, monochromatic printer may be converted to print white.
  • the retrofitted monochromatic printer may have either a separate toner and drum unit or a combined toner and drum cartridge.
  • both separate cartridges may be removed and replaced with replacement empty cartridges (new or used) that are filled with white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • Machines with combined cartridges may be removed and replaced with replacement empty cartridges that are filled with white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • the white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, or clear fluorescent, light toner image printed is set to print in pure black or K.
  • the monochromatic white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner printer may be switched back to black by simply changes the cartridge(s) back to black.
  • FIG. 12 is a flow block diagram of another example of the method of converting a printer to print with a non-standard toner, such as white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner.
  • the method 1200 may comprise: providing a monochromatic printer (the drum and toner cartridges may be combined or separate) 1205 ; removing the black (or K) toner and/or drum cartridge(s) 1210 ; providing empty replacement cartridges 1215 ; filling the replacement toner and/or drum cartridges with white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, clear fluorescent, or light toner powder 1235 , and installing the toner cartridge back into the printer 1240 .
  • the clear fluorescent toner is only visible under ultraviolet (UV) light.
  • FIG. 13 is a flow block diagram of another example of the method of converting a CMYK printer to print with clear fluorescent toner that is only visible under ultraviolet (UV) light.
  • one embodiment of the conversion method 1300 may comprise providing a CMYK printer with four printing cartridges: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black 1305 .
  • the black toner printing cartridge may be in the first printing cartridge position and the cyan toner printing cartridge may be in the fourth printing cartridge position.
  • the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge is preferably in the fourth position.
  • the method 1300 may further comprise removing the black (or first) toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge from the printer and removing the cyan (or fourth) toner printing cartridge from the printer 1310 , 1315 . If there is only one drum cartridge that services all of the printing cartridges, the drum must be cleaned and primed with the appropriate clear fluorescent toner or cyan toner at the appropriate location on the drum.
  • the method 1300 may further comprise: providing a clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge 1320 ; installing the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the fourth slot or position in the printer 1330 , which previously housed the cyan toner printing cartridge; installing the cyan toner printing cartridge and/or drum cartridge into the first slot or position in the printer 1325 , which previously housed the black printing cartridge; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software for printing cartridge remapping and layered printing ability 1335 .
  • RIP raster image processor
  • the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge preferably has the appropriate chip.
  • the clear fluorescent toner printing cartridge may be provided by disassembling the black removed printing cartridge, emptying and cleaning the black removed printing cartridge to create an empty printing cartridge, and then filling the empty printing cartridge with a fluorescent toner toner.
  • the clear toner printing cartridge may be new and unused or used and refurbished.
  • the modified printer may be converted back to a traditional CMYK printer by removing the fluorescent toner and cyan toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridges from the fourth and first slots in the CMYK printer and re-installing the cyan and black toner printing cartridges and/or drum cartridge into their original positions.
  • a CMYK printer such as a CMYW or CMYB printer, may be altered to feature any combination of clear fluorescent or standard colors.

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Claims (5)

  1. Procédé de conversion d'une imprimante cyan magenta jaune noir (CMJN) pour imprimer avec un toner non standard, comprenant les étapes de :
    obtention (705 ; 805) d'une imprimante à toners CMJN ;
    ladite imprimante à toners CMJN comportant quatre cartouches d'impression de toner, trois des quatre cartouches d'impression de toner étant des cartouches d'impression de couleurs comprenant une cartouche d'impression de toner cyan, une cartouche d'impression de toner magenta et une cartouche d'impression de toner jaune ;
    retrait (710 ; 810) d'une ou de plusieurs desdites cartouches d'impression de toner couleur de ladite imprimante à toners, de sorte qu'une ou plusieurs positions de cartouche d'impression de toner vides existent ;
    obtention (715 ; 815) d'une ou de plusieurs cartouches d'impression de toner non standard ;
    installation (720 ; 820) d'une ou de plusieurs cartouches d'impression de toner non standard dans lesdites une ou plusieurs positions de cartouche d'impression de toner vides ;
    mise en correspondance de nouveau (725 ; 825) desdites cartouches d'impression avec un logiciel de processeur d'image à trames (RIP) pour l'impression de la nouvelle mise en correspondance des cartouches ; et
    réglage d'un ou de plusieurs paramètres d'imprimante afin que ladite imprimante imprime en utilisant ladite ou lesdites cartouches remplies de toner non standard ;
    ledit ou lesdits paramètres d'impression étant définis pour imprimer à 100 % K pour une impression en noir.
  2. Procédé de conversion d'une imprimante pour imprimer avec un toner non standard selon la revendication 1, ledit toner non standard dans ladite ou lesdites cartouches d'impression de toner non standard étant choisi dans le groupe de toners non standards constitués de :
    toner blanc, toner métallique, toner fluorescent et toner clair.
  3. Procédé de conversion d'une imprimante pour imprimer avec un toner non standard selon la revendication 1 ou 2, toutes les trois de ladite ou desdites cartouches d'impression de toner couleur étant retirées de ladite imprimante à toners.
  4. Procédé de conversion d'une imprimante pour imprimer avec un toner non standard selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, ladite ou lesdites cartouches d'impression de toner non standard étant ladite ou lesdites cartouches d'impression de toner couleur retirées qui ont été vidées, nettoyées et rechargées avec au moins l'un d'une pluralité de toners non standards.
  5. Procédé de conversion d'une imprimante pour imprimer avec un toner non standard selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 4, ladite obtention de la ou des cartouches d'impression de toner non standard comprenant :
    le désassemblage (1020) de la ou des cartouches d'impression de toner couleur retirées (1010) parmi lesdites cartouches d'impression de toner couleur ;
    le vidage (1015) et nettoyage de la ou des cartouches d'impression de toner couleur retirées parmi les cartouches d'impression de toner couleur de sorte qu'une ou plusieurs cartouches d'impression vides soient créées ;
    et remplissage (1040) de la ou des cartouches d'impression vides avec l'un d'une pluralité de toners non standards.
EP17195155.1A 2016-10-06 2017-10-06 Procédé permettant de convertir une imprimante à cartouches de toner en une imprimante à toner blanc, clair, métallique, fluorescent ou léger Active EP3306407B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US15/286,943 US9835982B2 (en) 2015-06-05 2016-10-06 Method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, clear, metallic, fluorescent, or light toner printer

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP3306407A2 EP3306407A2 (fr) 2018-04-11
EP3306407A3 EP3306407A3 (fr) 2018-06-13
EP3306407B1 true EP3306407B1 (fr) 2020-01-15

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EP17195155.1A Active EP3306407B1 (fr) 2016-10-06 2017-10-06 Procédé permettant de convertir une imprimante à cartouches de toner en une imprimante à toner blanc, clair, métallique, fluorescent ou léger

Country Status (2)

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EP (1) EP3306407B1 (fr)
ES (1) ES2774012T3 (fr)

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9488932B1 (en) * 2015-06-05 2016-11-08 Ui Technologies, Inc. Method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, clear, or fluorescent toner printer

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8805217B2 (en) * 2012-07-31 2014-08-12 Eastman Kodak Company Toner printing with increased gamut
US9383684B1 (en) * 2015-06-05 2016-07-05 Ui Technologies, Inc. Method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white toner printer

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9488932B1 (en) * 2015-06-05 2016-11-08 Ui Technologies, Inc. Method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a white, clear, or fluorescent toner printer

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
ES2774012T3 (es) 2020-07-16
EP3306407A3 (fr) 2018-06-13
EP3306407A2 (fr) 2018-04-11

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